Description
Book SynopsisDespite its importance and the threat of its global crash, biodiversity is poorly understood both empirically and theoretically. This work presents a neutral, general theory to explain the origin, maintenance and loss of biodiversity in a biogeographical context.
Trade ReviewHighly innovative and insightful... Ideas are conveyed clearly and the addition of summary points at the end of each chapter facilitates assimilation."--Richard T. Busing, Ecological Engineering "Hubbell's book is a very exciting one, deeply original, based on extensive field data, and convincing in its 'simple' explanations of many broad-scale patterns in biodiversity and biogeography. It will probably cause controversies, but primarily stimulate further research."--Gottfried Jetschke, Ecology "[This] is a rich book about an idea that has the power to re-produce generic patterns and that will be in the back of your mind when you, again, try to make sense of the plethora of articles on species diversity, abundance and distribution."--Carsten F. Dormann, Basic and Applied Ecology "A rich book about an idea that has the power to re-produce generic patterns and that will be in the back of your mind when you, again, try to make sense of the plethora of articles on species diversity, abundance and distribution... Once you start reading it, you will find it not a page too long."--Carsten F. Dormann, Basic Applied Ecology "This is an important contribution to the development of a much sought-after explanation of pattern and process in an increasingly threatened global resource."--Michael E. Meadows, Environmental Conservation "Hubbell has produced a book for all those who think about how communities are put together, even the not so mathematically minded... [It] is sure to influence how community ecology is done for years to come."--Sandra Knapp, Biological Conservation
Table of ContentsPreface ix 1.MacArthur and Wilson's Radical Theory 3 2.On Current Theories of Relative Species Abundance 30 3.Dynamical Models of the Relative Abundance of Species 48 4.Local Community Dynamics under Ecological Drift 76 5.Metacommunity Dynamics and the Unified Theory 113 6.The Unified Theory and Dynamical Species-Area Relationships 152 7.Metapopulations and Biodiversity on the Metacommunity Landscape 202 8.Speciation, Phylogeny, and the Evolution of Metacommunity Biodiversity 231 9.Sampling, Parameter Estimation, and the Generality of the Unified Theory 281 10.Reconciling Dispersal-Assembly and Niche-Assembly Theories 319 Literature Cited 347 Index 371
